Headteacher's Message
It is important to remember that we have many members of our community who have been affected by war. Let’s build with our children a community filled with compassion, understanding and the determination to resolve difference peacefully. We will be collecting in the playgrounds next week to donate to the DEC Ukraine appeal – or you can donate here the The Red Cross.
I personally have had a very excitin
g two weeks. Last week, I had the pleasure of attending Wick Court Farm with a fantastic group of year 5 and 6 children. We had an absolutely wonderful time in the most beautiful setting. I built paths, watched cows being milked by robots, weaved willow, made butter, watched new baby lambs being born, collected eggs, chased and weighed pigs and attempted to take reluctant lambs for a walk. I have many memories but the one I hold most dear is seeing our children work hard and show the values that we want them to in every moment of every day.
From the farmer to Mr Hyde ‘the lambs are not like the children sir’ !! 😂😂😂😂
World Book Day yesterday was a joy! I for one struggled to read and write when I was at primary school but I loved being read to, hearing stories that opened up worlds of fantasy and opportunity. Mums, dads, grans and grandads, brothers and sisters please read books to young children. It will inspire and empower them.
School Council
This week in School Council we followed on from our previous meeting, in which the children raised wanting to help protect the animals that are around our school and making sure that our environment is safe for them too.
We have received a bird box from the Cameron Bespolka Trust and CJ Wildlife who have sent us a garden nest box for our school. The box is one of the ’70 Nest Boxes for 70 Years’ to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. We also have the opportunity to house a swift box. The swift population is in fast decline, and are declining at a rate of 3% each year. Today we walked around the school to look for suitable spaces for these birdboxes to go. If you want to tag nest box people to say thank you for our nest box: TW: @cameron_b_trust; Insta: @cameronbespolkatrust; FB: @thecameronbespolka
Parents' Evenings
On Tuesday 15th March and Wednesday 16th March we will be holding Parent-Teacher Interviews to report on your child’s progress in class and future targets. The interviews will be held between 3:30pm and 7:00pm (Tuesday) and 3:30pm and 6:00pm (Wednesday). These will be face-to-face meetings in school and once again we will be using our online booking system for you to make your appointments. Book here: PARENTS EVENING BOOKING
World Book Week
We all had a wonderful time on World Book Day this week! We celebrated with paired reading across classes, World Book Day assemblies across the school and it was lovely to see some of the wonderful characters pupils dressed up as or wanted to talk about. Teachers and children have been caught reading all around the school and at home all week – some in some interesting places! We absolutely loved seeing parents come in to read their favourite stories to our younger children.
Classes across the school have looked at a range of books to fit in with our theme That’s Me! Reception looked at ‘Errol’s Garden‘ by Gillian Hibbs – looking at building communities and creating green spaces in urban areas. Year 1 looked at a range of books including ‘Clean Up‘ by Nathan Byron about a young girl who teams up with her community to fight plastic pollution on the beaches of Jamaica. Year 2 read ‘I am Perfectly Designed‘ by Karamo Brown, an empowering story about loving who we are. Year 3 looked at ‘The Proudest Blue’ by Iptihaj Muhammad – a beautiful book about sisters and identity. Year 4 studied ‘I Talk like a River‘ by Jordan Scott, a moving story of a boy who has a stutter. Year 5 looked at ‘The Boy with the Butterfly Mind‘, a story about a boy with ADHD who lives in a blended family – and Year 6 read ‘Can You See Me‘ by Libby Scott and Rebecca Westcott, a story of an eleven year old autistic girl who is about to start secondary school. The conversations around books and characters and how they relate to our world have been rich and thoroughly enjoyable. We are very lucky at Kelvin Grove – this love of books is not limited to this one week of the year, but it is how we approach reading all year round.
We have so many wonderful photos to share will be gradually uploading them here:
Class News
Mint class news
This week in Mint Class, we had an opportunity to dress up as our favourite character for World Book Day 2022! We had a fabulous
Coral class News
EXPLORING BEGINS IN CORAL CLASS! What a start we have had to the new half term with the launch of our new topic ‘Extraordinary Explorers’.
Nursery News
We have been very busy growing in Nursery. The children have explored what seeds and plants need to grow and stay healthy. We have also
Saffron Class News
In Saffron class we have launched our new Year 2 Topic ‘Animals and Me’ where we will be looking at the similarities and differences between
Magenta Class News
This week Magenta have continued with their learning about Errol’s Garden. We decorated our pots in preparation to plant seeds in them. We discussed and
Apricot Class News
Apricot class have kick started the term with a very exciting and fun drama workshop. They became Jungle explorers for the morning, pretending to be
Brass Class News
Year 6 have had a great first few days back. Our new topic is called ‘Land of the rising sun’ and we are learning all
Cerise Class News
We have had a wonderful start to the new term. We have started out new book ‘Errol’s Garden’ which links to our topic ‘Growing’. We have
Turquoise Class News
We returned to school on Monday and jumped straight into our new topic, ‘From Source to Sea’. Our D&T project this term is to build
Letters sent home
Year 6 Curriculum – Spring 2 2022
Blue Class Curriculum – Spring 2 2022
Reception Newsletter – 04 03 2022
Nursery Curriculum – Spring 2 2022
Year 4 Curriculum – Spring 2 2022
Parents’ Evening March 2022
Year 2 Curriculum – Spring 2 2022
ClubXtra Special Dance Project
Year 5 Home Learning – Spring 2 2022
Reception Newsletter – 25 02 2022
Year 3 Curriculum – Spring 2 2022
Year 1 Newsletter – 21 02 2022
Year 3 Home Learning – Spring 2 2022
World Book Day – Thursday 3rd March 2022
Year 5 Curriculum – Spring 2 2022
Year 6 – Lewisham Citizen Scheme Trip
Year 2 – Trip to the Horniman Museum 2022
Governors' News
From the Governors
We have a busy half term as Governors, with a Full Governing Body meeting and individual committee meetings all happening. If you’re ever curious as to what we discuss, you can find the minutes of all meetings on the school website.
We have a new PTA who will gradually be making themselves known over the next few weeks. We are looking forward to seeing what they can achieve in terms of fundraising and community events – if the cake sale before half term is anything to go by they’ve got a very willing audience! Thanks to all who donated and came to the cake sale – we managed to raise over £300.
Please make sure you book your parents evening slots – these will be face-to-face at last! We have all missed having the opportunity to form strong relationships between staff and parents, and hopefully these sessions will be able to help towards that.
Community News
Children's Centre
Shake it Up on Monday 14/03/2022 a trial session at Eliot Bank from 13.30-14.30
Babies & Crawlers at Eliot Bank CFC on Monday 10.00 – 11.30
Latino Bambino Toddlers 9.30-10.15 & Latino Bambino Babies 10.15-11.00 at TNG on Tuesdays
Adventure Time (soft play) or Giant Messy Play at TNG on Wednesdays 10.00-11.30
KGEB Community Supermarket at Kelvin Grove CFC on Thursdays 9.00 – 13.00 & 14.00-16.00 £3.50 membership fee per week
L.I.F.E. Cooking Sessions for mums aged 16-35 at Eliot Bank CFC on Fridays 11.00 -13.15
Free Legal Advice Duncan Lewis via phone on Friday 10.00-12.00
CHILDREN’S CENTRE TIMETABLE – SPRING Half term 2022
Closing date for EBKGCC PLAY WORKER position is on 13/03/2022, read more HERE.
Please join our Facebook page: Eliot and Kelvin for the latest updates.
Global Camps April 2022
MONDAY 4TH APRIL – FRIDAY 15TH APRIL
A unique mixture of language learning, sports coaching, arts & crafts and outdoor adventure to keep your young ones active and engaged during the school holidays.
https://www.globalcamps.co.uk/
Find out more information or make a booking through our website above.
International Women's Day
Sydenham School PTA would be delighted if pupils, families and staff from other Lewisham schools joined our upcoming online event celebrating International Women’s Day, from 7:00pm on Tuesday 8th March. There is truly something for everyone in our line-up of diverse, talented and inspirational speakers:
• Farhana Yamin international climate change expert
• Carmody singer-songwriter and ex-Sydenham student
• Niamh McCloskey young passionate engineer
• Abigail Balfe Blue Peter recommended children’s non-fiction author
• Leanna Burnhard from the campaign for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
• and lots more besides!
You can be confident it will be a great event – our previous events have been very popular and saw us place for a National PTA Award!
Do please join us (tickets by donation, FREE for low-income households) AND also please share on with other people of all ages who might enjoy, wherever they are based! Book in advance at: https://www.sydenham-school-pta.org/post/iwd-2022-speakers
Easter Eggs
Easter is fast approaching, and this year we would love for all our little and big people to have a chocolate egg or Easter treat.
As stated we would need all donations to be delivered to us by Friday 1st April to ensure that all our clients receive an Easter treat before the holiday weekend.
Thank you so much for your ongoing support. Without it we would not be able to continue to help our most vulnerable individuals, couples and families in Lewisham.
Mindful Mums
We have fantastic news from Mindful Mums at BLGMind! We are extending our Befriending services to the Lewisham Borough.
Mindful Mums Befriender volunteers offer one-to-one support to local mums who are struggling with the demands of being pregnant or caring for a small baby. Volunteers offer listening and practical support to mums out in the community including in the mum’s home, cafés, children’s centres and parks. Support can also be offered remotely via zoom, FaceTime or phone calls. Due to COVID 19 pregnant and new mums have been extremely isolated and we have had an increase in demand for our service and therefore require more volunteers. Volunteers usually offer weekly support for 1-2 hours so the role isn’t too demanding, but is very rewarding.
Click on the flyer to find out more.
